wake me up when september ends
by abbyli
Summary: The innocence can never last...


**STOP RIGHT THERE! BEFORE YOU READ THIS STORY, PULL UP THE SONG "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Greenday AND LISTEN TO IT WHILE YOU READ.**

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><p>"Tori? What's wrong?"<p>

Tori jumped at the sound of Andre's voice. She looked up at her friends and sighed quietly.

"I'm fine, you guys," she said sadly.

Beck looked at his girlfriend and didn't believe her for one second. She had been a zombie for the last three months. It just didn't make sense. Tori was the happiest person he had ever known.

"Tori, you're a bad liar. What's going on?" asked Jade. Even though her former boyfriend was now dating her, Jade and Tori had finally gotten over their animosity and were friends.

Tori sighed again. She looked at the people that she loved the most and took a deep breath.

"Guys, I joined the US Army," she whispered.

Everyone stared at her. Tori looked around guiltily. She avoided Beck's gaze, though. She knew what his look was.

"Please tell me you are talking about the USO," whispered Andre.

Tori shook her head. "The real deal."

"When?" Cat finally forced out.

"About three months ago. I couldn't tell anyone because I knew you would try to get me to change my mind," she answered.

"Why?" Andre choked out. Tori was amazed that he sounded almost tearful.

Tori looked at Andre. "Nothing has been working out. My scholarship was given to that other girl, my album deal was dropped and I can't get another one. Like I just said, nothing is working out. I just don't belong here anymore."

"That's crap and you know it!" snapped Trina. "Do Mom and Dad know?"

Tori nodded. "Yes, they do. They read me the riot act but there is nothing that can be done. It's all written in stone. I have to go."

"Tori, _why_? I don't understand. Why do you want to risk your life for something this stupid!" sobbed Cat.

Tori looked infuriated. "It's _not _stupid! I'm going to help out with whatever they need me for!"

"Tori, this just isn't like you. We don't understand why you would do such a thing. Your big dream is to be a performer, not a soldier," said Robbie. Jade gently tapped him on the shoulder in thanks. He had said everything that they were feeling.

Tori nodded. "I know, Rob. I know. But this is something I have to do. If you are my friends, you will understand that," she said.

Cat looked at her with a pained look on her face. "It's just that we love you so much and don't want to lose you."

"Yeah," Andre agreed. Robbie nodded. Jade dipped her head. Trina sighed and reached over to take her sister's hand.

Tori finally looked over at Beck. He was staring at his hands which were clenched tightly in front of him.

"Beck?" she whispered.

Beck didn't respond to her. He got up and walked away from them and out into the cool night air. Everyone else watched him go for a moment before Tori finally got up and followed him.

"Beck?" she said again, walking out of the house and into the yard. She could see his slim form leaning against his truck, his arms crossed so tightly against his chest it was unlikely he wouldn't be able to unwind them for several years.

Beck ignored her. Tori cautiously got close to him. She could feel the anger radiating off his body. She could also feel the pain.

"Beck, it's my choice. I _have _to do this," she whispered.

Beck turned to glare at her. "Did you even give _one _thought to the people that love you? To your parents? To Andre, Cat, Robbie, Jade, Trina...me? Tori, this is not fair!"

Tori took a step back. "'Not fair'? Why, Beck Oliver! What about all the stupid decisions you've made? Like buying that damn stock without talking to me? And look what happened? You lost all of your damn money?" she snarled.

Beck stared at her for a moment before his face softened. Tori went for the jugular.

"Look, the others don't like it but they are accepting it. Why can't you?" she said with her hands in the air.

"Why can't you see that this is the stupidest decision you have ever made? You could die!" Beck's voice cracked on that last word.

Tori took a step back again. She looked right into his dark eyes and saw the glimmer of pain there. Her heart broke and she cursed herself at her stupidity.

Beck's dad, Sgt. Jack Oliver, had served in the US Marines for 12 years. He had left Beck when he was only 9 and came back a complete squirrel. He had taken his own life that previous year, breaking Beck's heart.

Tori realized at that moment, even though it was too late for her to rescind her decision to join the US Army, that she would always regret what she was doing. But she had to do it now. She had 18 months of active duty ahead of her. There was nothing she could do about that now.

"Oh, Beck..." she stepped forward in a motion to take his hand. He pulled away from her, tears beginning to blur his vision. Then he grabbed her face and laid the most passionate kiss ever on her mouth, making Tori lose her breath.

"I love you," he said quietly into her ear. "I will support whatever decision you make. I don't have to like it but I _will _support it. Just..."

"Just what?"

"Just come back alive."

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><p><strong>ONE MONTH LATER<strong>

It was time for Tori to ship out. She was heading for six weeks of vigorous boot camp and then they were placing her in a unit. She learned that she would be in a troop with twelve other men and one female. Her boss, or sergeant, was a guy as well and reminded her of Sikowitz a bit. She was going to have a lot of good people around her.

"This is it," Tori said as she and all of her friends arrived at the gate. She had said goodbye to her parents and her sister that previous evening so she wouldn't have to face them here.

"This is it," Andre repeated. Then he grabbed her and wrapped her in the tightest, most warm, most wonderful bear hug he could muster.

"Eh, Andre?" she choked. "Can't-breathe-!"

"Oops. Sorry," he put her back onto the ground. She caught her breath and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

"I love you," she said. "Love you too."

After hugging Cat and Robbie, Tori almost ran smack into Jade. The two women stared at each other for a couple of moments before Jade wrapped her arms around Tori and hugged her tightly.

"Be safe," she said into Tori's ear. "Come home."

"I will," Tori smiled as they pulled away from each other.

Tori's eyes then lifted to look at Beck. He was leaning against the wall, his eyes downcast to the floor, not looking at or watching the goodbyes. Tori broke away from the crowd and slowly approached him.

"Hey," she whispered cautiously.

Beck looked at her with a hard expression. It wasn't cruel, though. It was full of fear.

"You better come back alive, you know," he said, his voice breaking on every word.

"I plan to," she replied, feeling tears well up in her eyes.

Beck just looked at her for several moments. Then he swooped on her and kissed her so passionately that he had her gasping for air again.

He released her after a full minute. They stared into each other's eyes, black on brown. From a bystander it would look like they were having a silent conversation. Well, in fact, they were.

All of the sudden, they heard the final boarding call for Tori's flight. Beck let go of her hands, but didn't break eye contact. Tori finally had to break it so she could grab her bag. She looked back at Beck and pressed her fingers to her lips. Then she turned towards her friends and blew them a final kiss, disappearing up the gangplank and onto her plane.

Beck remained where he was until Tori's plane took off into the sky. Andre came back to him and gently took his hand.

"Come on, Beck. Let's go home."

It was only then that Beck allowed Andre to lead him out of there.

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><p>"I just don't get it. You got through basic training within six weeks, and you've only been here a year and you've already been promoted to sergeant. That's not fair!" whined Private James Hallo.<p>

Sgt. Victoria Vega rolled her eyes at her buddy. "Don't whine. It makes you look like a loser," she said.

James gently punched her arm, making her wince. She slapped the back of his head and made him yell out in pain.

"See what I mean?" she snapped.

James laughed and sat back. His rifle was set down between his feet and his helmet was off. Tori still had her helmet on but her rifle was loose in her hands. Her men were gathered not to far away, relaxing for a brief moment. It had been a long year for everyone and they needed a break.

Tori had done remarkably well the last year. She was one of the first women in her regiment to be given a squad to control. Her men complained at first when they saw their new boss but now they had to utmost of respect for her. She treated them well and protected them.

The other woman that was in boot camp with her had been unable to go through with it and had been shipped out. Tori was the only woman left and actually loved messing around with her guys in the platonic sense. Nothing actually happened so she was the utmost of faithful to Beck. And as far as she knew, he was faithful to her too. She hadn't been home yet so in truth, she had no idea. They corresponded by letters. Sometimes she felt like she in the book _Dear John, _but the roles were reversed. She missed her friends and her boyfriend desperately. But in eight months, it was all going to be over. She had signed up for an 18 months tour of duty and she wasn't going to allow herself to be stop-lossed. It was going to be all over.

Tori adored all of her men. They were great friends to her. James Hallo was her best buddy and they often engaged in horseplay. She always won, whether it was wisecracks or arm-wrestling matches. The betting soon wedged out because Tori always won and nobody bet on Hallo anymore.

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><p>All of the sudden, there was quick and sudden blast. It happened so quickly that some of the men didn't even notice it. Tori sat up straight like a deer that heard a hunter. Hallo had heard it too and listened with her.<p>

"What do we do?" he whispered.

"I think it's the enemy. We've gotta get the men out of here before-" her voice was cut off by a couple of Iraqi soldiers stepping out into the clearing. "-crap."

Her men watched the Iraqis carefully. They weren't sure if the others had seen them and they didn't dare make any sudden movements. It was just too dangerous.

Tori remained frozen where she was. She tried to communicate with Hallo with her eyes but he didn't understand what she wanted. He finally got it and brought himself really low to the ground, his rifle at the ready. Tori remained watching the Iraqis as they got closer. She had her rifle at the ready as well and so did the rest of her men.

"_Get the men out of here. I am going to create a diversion," _Tori mouthed at Hallo.

Hallo looked at her like she had grown another head. "_Are you insane? __You can't sacrifice yourself!" _

"_It's either me or all of us!" _

Hallo gave in after a couple of moments of silent arguing. He signaled the rest of the men and they quickly crawled to safety. Tori raised her gun in the air and fired off a blast. She could hear the Iraqis jabbering on as they made their way towards her. She fired off a second blast and the Iraqis found her. She actually sighed in relief, knowing that they had all come for her and her men were able to get away.

She found herself looking down the barrel of a long rifle. She had picked up a lot of the Iraqi language during her year here so she caught whiffs of what they were saying. They were debating whether to take her prisoner or to kill her. One guy even stated that she looked like she wouldn't cooperate at all if they tried to take her in so they should just save the trouble and kill her.

The guy with the gun in her face shook his head. He disagreed, obviously. He wanted to take her prisoner and see what they could do with her. Tori really wanted to knee this guy in the nuts but the big fat gun in her face stopped her.

All of the sudden, she felt another soldier's hands on her back. She quickly shrugged him off and slapped the ugly guy right across the face. He slapped her back, making her eyes water. That pissed her off and with a quick flash, she broke the guy's nose.

The muzzle of the gun was pressed into the back of her head after she broke the man's nose. She understood the words that the guy was saying to her as he breathed in her ear.

"If you don't behave, we will kill you right now," he whispered.

Tori whipped around and glared at him. With one defiant and life threatening move, she stepped on the guy's foot and could feel his toes breaking underneath her. The man dropped his gun and it went off.

Tori shrieked as the metal went through her leg. She managed to get herself into a standing position so she could look the soldier in the eyes. The gun was back in her face and he was pissed.

"I'll see you in Hell," she whispered with malice.

He pulled the trigger.

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><p>Beck rose early that morning, feeling the sun shining through the window and the breeze picking up. He smiled at the lovely morning and went into his tiny kitchen to make some coffee.<p>

Then there was a knock on the door.

Beck sighed and opened up the door to his RV.

James Hallo was standing on his front step. He wasn't in uniform, though. He was in regular clothes, jeans and teeshirt. Beck recognized him immediately from the pictures that Tori had sent home and by the way Tori described him in her letters.

Beck's heart jumped into his throat. He saw the look in Hallo's eyes. That haunted look.

He knew right then.

His knees gave out.

"Tori's dead, isn't she?"

Hallo nodded.

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><p>It was all a big blur. Hallo told him how Tori had saved their lives when they were attacked by enemy soldiers by creating a diversion so they would go after her and the men could escape. He had witnessed Tori's death and saw how she had fought to the very end by breaking one soldier's nose and the other one's foot. She was hero and was going to awarded the Medal of Honor and The Gold Star posthumously.<p>

Big friggin' whoop.

She was going to be given those medals posthumously.

Posthumously.

That made it so final.

Because she was dead.

And she had broken her promise.

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><p>"Beck?"<p>

Beck looked up. Trina was standing over him.

It was right after Tori's memorial service. She had been given the full military kit and caboodle. The 21 gun salute, the flag presented to him and her parents, the whole nine yards.

The whole sucky nine yards.

"I don't get it, Trina," he said. "Why is an amazing person like Tori gone and pyscho murderers like OJ Simpson going free?"

Trina sat down beside him. "I don't know," she said.

"And, of course, Tori has to go pull a thing like saving all of her men's lives before she dies. Why did she have to be so damn good?" His voice was coming out in a snarl now.

"That was Tori, Beck," whispered Trina.

"I never even got to marry her!" Now his voice was breaking. He shoved a small jewelry box at Trina. "I bought this about two months ago. She was coming home for her first visit and I was going to propose. We were going to-" A sob escaped. He didn't even notice how Andre, Cat, Jade, and Robbie were gathering around them.

"Why?" Beck got to his feet and began to pace down the length of the room. "Why did this have to happen? Why do wars happen? Why do all of these things happen? Why do beautiful young women like Tori have to die and stupid, friggin'..." he couldn't talk anymore.

Cat quickly got to her feet and wrapped her arms around Beck from behind. He sank into her embrace and his knees gave out again. She fell with him to the floor, her arms still wrapped tightly around him, never letting him go.

"Let it out," Andre whispered, kneeling before him. "Let it out."

Beck took his advice and let the tears come. They were soon coming so fast it was doubtful they were ever going to stop.

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><p>Time flew by really fast. Beck continued on in his dream to become an actor and had scored a role on a primetime show called <em>Breathe Out, Don't Breathe In. <em>He portrayed a police officer against the war in Iraq. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in A Drama Series.

"And the Emmy goes to...Beckett Oliver!"

Beck didn't expect to win. He wasn't even paying attention, talking to Andre when his name was called. The camera caught his very bemused expression when he realized he had won.

Andre gave him a shove towards the stage and he stumbled up there. The Emmy was pressed into his hands and he staggered over to the mike.

"Uh...I honestly didn't expect to win so I didn't make a speech..." he mumbled. He lifted his eyes up and almost fell over. Tori was standing in the aisle, wearing a long pale peach gown. Her soft brown curls were piled up on top of her head and she wore a big smile. She winked at him and gave a gentle wave. When Beck blinked, she was gone.

"But I do know who I want to dedicate this to. The love of my life, Tori Vega. You see, the whole reason why I took this role was to honor her. She was a soldier during the war. She made it up to sergeant and died protecting her men from some Iraqi soldiers. This...she always told me to follow my dreams. To go after what I really wanted. I would give up all the Emmys in the world to have her with me again. Just for one hour. But...I'm sorry for bumming everyone out," he added, seeing the saddened looks on everyone's faces.

The audience burst into gentle chuckles. Andre, Cat, Jade, Robbie, Trina, David and Holly Vega all chuckled gently. Cat and Jade each swiped tears off their cheeks. Holly buried her face in David's shoulder, choking on her sobs and her laughs. Her love grew for the man that her daughter wanted to marry.

Beck raised the Emmy in the air, ignoring the applause. "For you, my sweet Tor."

He slowly walked off the stage, setting the Emmy back on the table. He kept walking until he found the nearest exit. He walked into the cool night air and took in deep gulps of it. A gentle breeze picked up.

Was it lame, Tori?

_Little bit. _

You'd do the same thing! _You got me there. _

I miss you.

_Me too. _

I love you.

_I love you too, babe. Love you too. _

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><p><strong>Kind of a drop-off ending. This has always been a touchy subject with me. I am so against the war but I have the utmost of respect for people for serve in the military. They sacrifice everything, their families, their jobs, even their lives. <strong>

**I saw the music video "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and I just thought that it fit so well. This idea popped into my head. Another song that I recommend is "Citizen Soldier" by 3 Doors Down. Oddly enough, my ex-boyfriend recommended that. It's a good song. **

**So, let us have a moment of silence for our brave men and women in the military. God bless our troops. **

**Don't forget to leave a review!**


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